If you’re concerned about the upcoming hurricane season — and you should be — you might want to do some shopping this weekend. That’s because Saturday through Monday is one of three “sales tax holidays” each year in Texas, this one being for emergency supplies.

Sales tax holidays, like anything including the word “tax,” can be controversial. Consumers like them because they can buy things they need without the state sales tax of 6.25% — and in many cities, a local option of an additional 2 percent. That’s 8.25% combined. Budget-planners don’t like these events so much because they reduce the amount of tax revenues government has to spend on roads and parks.

Some also quibble at the items which are exempted, such as emergency ladders costing less than $300 this weekend, ostensibly to help you get in or out of a house in a storm. You could also buy a ladder costing less than $300 (as most do) for many other non-storm-related reasons. As always, there’s a trade-off on events like this. State officials were smart enough not to exempt things like plywood and vehicle batteries, which have only a tenuous connection to storm prep.

Saving 8.25% on a small-dollar purchase of flashlights or fuel containers (items exempted this weekend) won’t pad your bottom line that much. On the other hand, if you’ve been thinking about getting a generator, you could save some serious cash. This weekend, portable generators costing less than $3,000 are exempt. If you bought one at that price in a city with the additional 2% sales tax option, you would not pay $247.50 in state and local sales taxes. That’s real money for us non-millionaires.

The other two sales tax holidays in Texas are the one for energy-efficient and water-conservation products the Memorial Day weekend, and the biggie, the back-to-school bonanza, held the first or second week of August.

Back-to-school shopping has emerged as the biggest burst of consumer spending outside of Christmas. Sometimes, the stores seem just as crowded. In Texas in 2017, consumers saved $87 million that weekend, and have saved $1.1 billion since the holiday began in this state in 1999.

Other states have gotten in on the tax-holiday trend, though only 14 others so far. It’s hard to imagine why more haven’t jumped on board. Their residents undoubtedly want them, but the reason is probably that their lawmakers need (or want) more tax dollars to play with each legislative session.

The Texas economy has been growing every year (except when recessions arrive, and everybody takes a hit) so our lawmakers can be more generous. Plus, we’re just a notorious low-tax state, one of only seven without the dreaded state income tax. (The others are Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.)

On the other hand, famously blue states like Maryland and Connecticut have seven-day back-to-school sales tax holidays, whereas Texas and most other states limit that to three days. Missouri, curiously, has a seven-day tax holiday for energy-efficient products in April but only the standard three days for school supplies in August. Go figure.

The Texas holiday for emergency supplies also comes a month before the start of the official hurricane season on June 1. As coastal residents know, hurricanes can strike at any month of the year. And this sales-tax holiday also covers items designed to help you in a rainstorm or flood, which of course happen all the time too.

It’s not a big deal, but the start of the official hurricane season always draws a lot of media attention. If the sales tax holiday were held then, it would get more attention. I bet a lot of people reading this column didn’t know that the tax holiday for emergency supplies was this weekend.

At any rate, you can never have enough flashlights, so check out the accompanying list of exempted items and like a good Scout, be prepared.

Yes, smart phones these days have flashlight apps, and they work pretty well. But they also drain your phone battery big time, and in an emergency you will need that phone for many other things. Get an old-fashioned hand-held unit like grandpa used … and hope we dodge a Cat 5 again this year.